ἠχή

Forms

ἠχή (ēkhḗ) f (genitive ἠχῆς); first declension^[1] Doric ἀχᾱ́ (akhā́).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Hellenic *wākʰā́,^[1] from Proto-Indo-European *sweh₂gʰ- (“to sound”).^[1][2] The older Greek form was *ϝᾱχᾱ́ (*wākhā́), with an initial digamma;^[2][5] Doric ἀχᾱ́ (akhā́) keeps its long a.^[2][5][6] Beekes and Frisk think that ἠχή, the personified ἠχώ (ēkhṓ, “echo”) and the secondary ἦχος (êkhos, “sound”) replaced an old root noun or verb form, beside which stood the reduplicated present ἰάχω (iákhō, “to cry out”), from *ϝιϝάχω (*wiwákhō).^[2][5][6]

As often with expressive words, there are no exact matches in other languages.^[6][2] The closest are Latin vāgiō (“to wail”) (which has a plain *g), Lithuanian svagiù (“to resound”) and Old English swōgan (“to resound”).^[2][6][1] LSJ links the Old English verb with English sough.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Homer uses it for a loud, ringing din: the roar of waves, of trees crashing together, of an army on the move, often in the phrase ἠχῇ θεσπεσίῃ “with a wondrous din”.^[7][8][3]

Semantic evolution

In Hesiod's Shield it is the crash of a falling rock.^[3][4] Tragedy uses it for a cry of grief or a shout, and for the sound of a trumpet.^[3][4] Plato uses it of the sound of words ringing in the ears.^[3] Later writers apply it to the sound of flowing water, a song and the chirping of a grasshopper, and rarely to articulate speech; in Plutarch it is also rumour, talk about someone.^[3][4]

Modern Greek continues the family in Modern Greek ήχος (íchos) “sound” and the learned Modern Greek ηχώ (ichó) “echo”.^[9]

Timeline

• Homer – The Iliad and the Odyssey use it for the din of battle, waves and wind.^[7][3]
• Before the 6th century BC – Hesiod's Shield uses it for the crash of a rock.^[3][4]
• 5th century BC – Euripides uses it for a cry of sorrow and for the sound of a trumpet.^[3][4]
• 5th–4th century BC – Plato uses it for the sound of words.^[3]
• 2nd century BC – Moschus uses it for the sound of flowing water.^[4]
• 1st–2nd century AD – Plutarch uses it for rumour.^[3][4]
• Modern Greek – The family lives on in Modern Greek ήχος (íchos) and Modern Greek ηχώ (ichó).^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loud, echoing sound, a din or roar, of battle, waves, wind or falling rocks.^[3][4][7]
2. (tragedy) A cry of grief, a wail; a shout.^[3][4]
3. The sound of a trumpet, of flowing water, of a song or a grasshopper.^[3][4]
4. (rare) An articulate sound, a voice.^[3][4]
5. Rumour, talk.^[3][4]

Word family

• ἀντηχέω (antēkhéō)
• διηχέω (diēkhéō)
• δυσηχής (dusēkhḗs)
• ἐξηχέω (exēkhéō)
• ἐπηχέω (epēkhéō)
• εὐηχής (euēkhḗs)
• ἠχεῖον (ēkheîon)
• ἠχέτης (ēkhétēs)
• ἠχέω (ēkhéō)
• ἠχήεις (ēkhḗeis)
• ἠχώ (ēkhṓ)
• ἠχώδης (ēkhṓdēs)
• ἦχος (êkhos)

Related words

• ἰαχή (iakhḗ)
• ἰάχω (iákhō)
• καναχή (kanakhḗ)
• στοναχή (stonakhḗ)
• English sough

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Liddell, Henry George; Scott, Robert; Jones, Henry Stuart (1940), A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Diggle, James, et al., eds. (2021), The Cambridge Greek Lexicon, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c Frisk, Hjalmar (1960–1972), Griechisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3 vols, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
6. ^ a b c d Chantraine, Pierre (2009), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue grecque: histoire des mots, new ed. with a supplement (Chroniques d'étymologie grecque 1–10), Paris: Klincksieck
7. ^ a b c Cunliffe, Richard John (1924), A Lexicon of the Homeric Dialect, London: Blackie and Son
8. ^ Autenrieth, Georg (1891), A Homeric Dictionary for Schools and Colleges, tr. Robert P. Keep, New York: Harper and Brothers
9. ^ a b Ινστιτούτο Νεοελληνικών Σπουδών (Ίδρυμα Μανόλη Τριανταφυλλίδη) (1998), Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής, Thessaloniki: Aristotle University of Thessaloniki